I had a great meeting yesterday with ace curriculum developer Jen Rugani to discuss lesson plans she’s been developing for our unit on Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In the course of the meeting, we developed a new application for one of our favorite developmental writing exercises. The exercise is called Because, But,…
Been talking a lot to coaches lately about building cultures of mental engagement and collaboration on their teams. Some recent posts here and here. If that’s of interest to you, here’s a new clip that will be really useful. It’s of Steve Freeman, Director at Black Watch Premier. His 2001 boys have been working on…
I’ve written several times here about Sensitivity Analysis questions and how valuable I think they are at helping students develop an ear for complex text. Yesterday while reviewing lesson plans for The Magician’s Nephew with curriculum writer Emily Badillo, I came across a new example Emily developed that I thought was worth sharing. It comes…
Our weekly video review had us buzzing this week. Among the teachers we watched was Laura Baxter, who teaches 4th grade at Nashville Classical Charter School. I wanted to share a really rich clip of a small and apparently mundane moment from her classroom for a couple of reasons. What first drew us to this clip…
As you may know, we’re writing an English curriculum, my team and I. As I’ve discussed elsewhere, it’s based on the reading of novels, challenging & demanding novels, at every grade level. It’s flexible and modular–teachers and schools can select from a range of books. It’s knowledge-building and writing intensive. It reinforces Close…